Older Americans Act

Residents concerned about programs available for senior citizens in their communities are encouraged to attend a public hearing on Monday, sponsored by the Broward County Area Agency on Aging. The public can give views on how the agency should spend federal Older Americans Act dollars, money that funds programs such as hot meal sites and centers for people 60 and older. The meeting will be at 2 p.m. at Lauderhill City Hall, 2000 City Hall Drive. Those wishing to attend should contact Linda Consalvo at 485-6370.

Federal budget cuts are forcing some seniors in Broward and Palm Beach counties to go hungry. The Broward Meals on Wheels program served its last meals in Cooper City and Wilton Manors this week, said Meals on Wheels Executive Director Mark Adler. Palm Beach County isn't closing sites in Boca Raton , Delray Beach or Boynton Beach . But Elizabeth Lugo, director for the Volen Center, said she hasn't been able to add more seniors to the meals program since September 2011.

TAMARAC Democratic Club meets Tuesday The Tamarac Democratic Club will meet at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Tamarac Recreation Center. State Rep. Walter Campbell will speak. Call 954-726-7662. COCONUT CREEK Free phones aid hearing impaired The League for the Hard of Hearing will distribute amplified telephones from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the North Regional/Broward Community College Library. The telephones are offered free to Florida residents who complete an application form. For more details, call 954-731-7200.

South Florida seniors who are frail, disabled or living alone will find it harder to get home-delivered meals now that long-predicted federal cuts in aging service dollars have reached the local level. Broward Meals on Wheels, which serves more than 1,300 seniors a week, instituted a waiting period this month for the first time in many years. Some families who had filled out paperwork and were expecting their meals to start arriving soon are being told their start date is unknown.

An agreement to provide a grant worth nearly half a million dollars to the Southwest Focal Point Senior Center has been approved by city commissioners. The grant allots $488,396.61 in federal Older Americans Act funds for 2004. The money is expected to be allocated to the Pembroke Pines center on Jan. 1, said Tami J. Farthing, the city's community services director. The federal funds will be distributed through the Areawide Council on Aging of Broward County. The council's board approved the allocation of the money to the senior center, said Edith Lederberg, executive director of Areawide Council on Aging of Broward County.

South Florida seniors who are frail, disabled or living alone will find it harder to get home-delivered meals now that long-predicted federal cuts in aging service dollars have reached the local level. Broward Meals on Wheels, which serves more than 1,300 seniors a week, instituted a waiting period this month for the first time in many years. Some families who had filled out paperwork and were expecting their meals to start arriving soon are being told their start date is unknown.

State officials have decided not to use updated 2002 census figures when it comes time in January to hand out federal dollars for senior centers, home-delivered meals and transportation. The decision by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs means Broward and Palm Beach counties won't get the $1.1 million windfall that would have come their way, as the new numbers showed the two counties had more minority seniors than previously estimated. The state's funding allocation formula gives extra weight to districts with large numbers of poor, minorities and seniors who are very frail.

With her varied background in Caribbean studies, business and gerontology, Gema Hernandez brings an interesting perspective to issues facing older Floridians as she starts her new job as secretary of the Department of Elder Affairs. Q. The federal Older Americans Act, which provides the money and sets the rules for things like Meals on Wheels and senior centers, has not been reauthorized since 1995. Do you think the delay means anything serious and what is the fate of these programs in Florida?

When the headlines hit the newsstands, panic hit the seniors centers. "Auditors Want To Eliminate Aging Agency" was the story that in January sent reporters and TV camera crews scurrying into places where the elderly gather. At a Margate nutrition site, seniors arriving for their noontime meal began to panic as microphones were thrust across their plastic trays. Did this mean that there would be no hot meal come noon next week? What would happen to the bus that came to take them to the center?

LAUDERDALE LAKES -- Dozens of senior citizens` advocates pleaded with state officials on Wednesday for continued financing the nutrition sites, recreation and day-care programs that Broward County`s seniors depend on. The state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services will consider their testimony, along with those given at hearings elsewhere in the state, before deciding which counties will get federal dollars distributed under the Older Americans...

More than a thousand South Florida seniors are waiting for in-home services, like home-delivered meals and personal care aides, that are financed through the federal Older Americans Act. But Holocaust survivors could get priority when slots become open in those programs under a bill recently introduced in Congress by local lawmakers. The timing may make its passage sticky, however, as the automatic sequestration budget cuts snipped almost 6 percent out of local Older Americans programs earlier this year.

Homebound seniors who rely on Broward Meals on Wheels must soon find another source of food, as the nonprofit reduces its services next year because of a budgetary shortfall. Rather than delivering 14 meals to its clients -- breakfasts and dinners to last seven days -- the organization will cut back to 10 meals. "Economics have caught up with us," said Executive Director Peggy Miller. "We have not had a funding increase in well over 10 years, and we have done what we can do to reduce costs."

TAMARAC Democratic Club meets Tuesday The Tamarac Democratic Club will meet at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Tamarac Recreation Center. State Rep. Walter Campbell will speak. Call 954-726-7662. COCONUT CREEK Free phones aid hearing impaired The League for the Hard of Hearing will distribute amplified telephones from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the North Regional/Broward Community College Library. The telephones are offered free to Florida residents who complete an application form. For more details, call 954-731-7200.

Gladys Wilson believes it's important for seniors to stay active. "There are many seniors who just retire from life, and there are those who step into another role," said Wilson, who joined the Area Agency on Aging's council four years ago. Wilson, 72, came to Cooper City in 1984 from Cincinnati, where she was director of food services in the city school district. She got involved with the Cooper City chapter of AARP, serving as its secretary for a year and then president for six years.

An agreement to provide a grant worth nearly half a million dollars to the Southwest Focal Point Senior Center has been approved by city commissioners. The grant allots $488,396.61 in federal Older Americans Act funds for 2004. The money is expected to be allocated to the Pembroke Pines center on Jan. 1, said Tami J. Farthing, the city's community services director. The federal funds will be distributed through the Areawide Council on Aging of Broward County. The council's board approved the allocation of the money to the senior center, said Edith Lederberg, executive director of Areawide Council on Aging of Broward County.

State officials have decided not to use updated 2002 census figures when it comes time in January to hand out federal dollars for senior centers, home-delivered meals and transportation. The decision by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs means Broward and Palm Beach counties won't get the $1.1 million windfall that would have come their way, as the new numbers showed the two counties had more minority seniors than previously estimated. The state's funding allocation formula gives extra weight to districts with large numbers of poor, minorities and seniors who are very frail.

Gladys Wilson believes it's important for seniors to stay active. "There are many seniors who just retire from life, and there are those who step into another role," said Wilson, who joined the Area Agency on Aging's council four years ago. Wilson, 72, came to Cooper City in 1984 from Cincinnati, where she was director of food services in the city school district. She got involved with the Cooper City chapter of AARP, serving as its secretary for a year and then president for six years.

Edith Lederberg, executive director of the Broward County Area Agency on Aging, on Wednesday called for letter-writing campaigns and grass-roots support to protect Florida`s 11 agencies targeted for possible extinction. The Community Care for the Elderly report, prepared by the Florida Auditor General`s Office and finalized on Wednesday, suggests that all agencies be eliminated or restructured. "What upsets me the most is that Florida, the leadership state for the elderly, would make such a recommendation," said Lederberg, whose agency distributes $9 million yearly for elderly services.

Kimberlee Burke is on a mission to win the hearts and stomachs of seniors living around the Wilson Center. She went door to door handing out fliers and personal invitations to come do lunch. The menu was tailored to fit the neighborhood: Haitian Creole chicken, picadillo, plantains. The trays of food arrived at the center for the first time on Monday morning last week. Nobody came to eat. The same thing happened the following day. Burke, however, will not be deterred. "I think it's going to be a challenge, but I won't give up. We are going to have to be creative," said Burke, who handles the 10 meal sites around south Palm Beach County run by the Mae Volen Senior Center in Boca Raton.